Baramulla: Throngs of his young supporters, loud cheers and sloganeering, toffees and sweets tossed in the air by the handful. As Sheikh Abdul Rashid, better known as Engineer Rashid, made his way from Srinagar to Baramulla Thursday—returning home after five years—the atmosphere was charged.
Jailed on terror-funding charges, the Baramulla MP is out on interim bail to campaign for the assembly elections. This is his first visit to Baramulla since his surprise win in the last Lok Sabha elections.
“Tihar ka badla, vote se. Goli ka badla, vote se. UAPA ka badla, vote se. Zulm ka badla vote se (we’ll take revenge for Tihar, bullets, UAPA & atrocities by winning the elections),” Rashid thundered to his supporters in Baramulla, echoing the ‘jail ka badla, vote se’ slogan that his supporters had raised during the Lok Sabha elections, which he contested from jail.
“Kashmir ka masla hal karo, dramabaazi band karo. Tihar mai bhejna band karo, Kashmir ka masla hal karo (resolve the Kashmir issue, stop the drama, stop sending people to Tihar),” Rashid said, addressing thousands of people who had gathered to see him in Baramulla.
Emboldened by his surprise victory over former chief minister Omar Abdullah in Baramulla Lok Sabha poll, Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) is seeking to maintain that momentum in the upcoming Assembly elections. The AIP is offering a fresh alternative to voters and has already put forward 34 candidates. It is expected to queer the pitch for mainstream parties such as the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party in the assembly elections.
Flanked by heavy security in a Baramulla ground, Rashid faced a technical hiccup when his microphone failed midway. However, he quickly switched to a headset with a mic to address the crowd.
Accompanied by his son Abrar, who led his Lok Sabha campaign, and other party leaders, Rashid said that his focus is not just on the assembly elections but on finding a solution to the Kashmir issue.
“Narendra Modi will have to understand that his call for ‘Naya Kashmir’, the drama of ‘Naya Kashmir’ has flopped. His wasn’t a new Kashmir. That was a Kashmir of atrocities, of UAPA, of killing Kashmiris. Narendra Modiji, Amit Shahji, Rahul Gandhi and the leaders across the country should know that the people of Jammu stand with the people of Kashmir,” he said.
A number of young people cheered enthusiastically as Rashid called for an end to the imprisonment of Kashmiris in Tihar Jail. He urged the Modi government to resolve the long-standing Kashmir issue and encouraged the crowd to educate their children if they wanted to see “ghar ghar engineer” in Kashmir.
Amid the relentless sloganeering disrupting his speech, Rashid momentarily lost his composure. At one point, distracted by a phone belonging to a party leader next to him, he seized the phone and threw it into the crowd.
The crowd had begun to swell at HSS Ground Delina in Baramulla as soon as news spread that Rashid’s cavalcade had departed from Srinagar airport. Supporters lined the route, eagerly awaiting his arrival. As his convoy passed, people showered him with sweets, and many stood on rooftops to catch a glimpse of the leader.
“Kashmir ki majboori hai, Engineer Rashid zaroori hai” (Kashmir needs a leader like Engineer Rashid), chanted the people who had gathered outside the Srinagar airport earlier in the day.
“They keep saying Kashmiris (now) do not have the guts for stonepelting. Amit Shahji should hear it clearly, Kashmiris are not fond of stone pelting, but we will also not surrender to your show of strength. This is your belief. Let it remain so. I want to ask PM Modi, how long will you keep me in Tihar?” Rashid said in his address in Baramulla.
Rashid said the votes he received in the Lok Sabha elections were a rejection of the ‘Naya Kashmir’ model, which stood for ‘UAPA,’ ‘injustice,’ and ‘force’.
Also read: Engineer Rashid set to queer the pitch for Abdullahs and Muftis in Kashmir polls
‘PDP brought BJP to J&K’
Since his release from Tihar, Engineer Rashid has faced persistent questions about his political ties, particularly with the BJP. Rashid has consistently denied any connections with both the BJP and the INDIA bloc.
On Thursday, he took on PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and her late father for having allied with the BJP in the past. “Their betrayal was bigger than that of Sheikh Abdullah. They (PDP) brought the BJP to Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Rashid said that Mehbooba Mufti had, till date, not apologised for “joining hands with the BJP” after the split. Speaking alongside his candidates, he urged them to remain humble and listen to everyone. Rashid reiterated that if Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti present a comprehensive plan to restore Kashmir’s ‘lost status’, he would advise his candidates to withdraw from the elections.
“The decisions taken by Narendra Modi on 5 August, 2019, are totally unacceptable to the people of Kashmir. You can send Engineer Rashid to Tihar or anywhere else, but people will repose their faith in us and we will emerge victorious,” he said, referring to the abrogation of Article 370 by the Centre, revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
The Lok Sabha MP said that the administration would have to do the work of the people of his constituency.
“I want to tell the whole administration today, Engineer Rashid is an MP from North Kashmir. You will have to work for my people. If you don’t, then even if I am in Tihar, my name itself will inspire fear,” he said to wild cheers.
“I am a professional and today I took leave from work to be here and express my solidarity with the Engineer,” said Marooq Muzafar, a resident of Sopore on his 20s. No one, he added, had “paid” him to be part of the rally.
“I support his ideology completely and the special status of Kashmir needs to be restored. He is the only one who is talking about the common people. The youth of this generation will only support him and none of the other parties,” said Muzaffar who holds a Masters degree in Computer Science.
Others gathered in the Baramulla ground echoed his sentiments.
“The feeling is such in Jammu and Kashmir that they have rejected all the regional parties because they have only looted the people of Kashmir. They are only concerned about kursi, power and paisa (money). Engineer Rashid represents honest politics and that’s why we are here to support him,” said Mohammed Ashraf Mir.
The overwhelming reception Rashid received upon returning home could be a concern for the NC and PDP. Several Valley politicians told ThePrint that Rashid’s campaign might impact the prospects of mainstream parties in the region, adding to the uncertainty of the election outcome.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: Ram Madhav’s appointment ‘political pragmatism’ for BJP before J&K polls, marks RSS’s return to helm
